The Guardian: Book 1: Dreams and Adventures
by Champion Nick
Summary: Every legend comes from tales muttered among the closest of companions, every tale from a simple call to adventure. All adventures hail from dreams, which in turn hail from the legends told as the cycle continues eternal. And this legend, that of Trainer Nicholas, begins here, his dreams and adventures. Love and loss, war and peace, victory and defeat- rise to the call, Guardian.
1. Opening Statements

_The Guardian_

Book 1: _Dreams and Adventures_

By: Champion Nick

Disclaimer:

I claim no ownership of the Pokemon Company or any of its assets, and the following fan-created literary work is in no way endorsed by Nintendo or any of its subsidiaries. All works referenced or utilized, auditory, visual, or otherwise, belong to the owners noted within their respective chapters.

The following story is rated M for eventual:

Explicit sexual situations (including human/Pokemon and Pokemon/Pokemon relations as well as non-heterosexual and polyamorous relationships), violent character death, violence in general, profanity, torture, etc.

Warnings of a more specific nature will be included on a chapter-by-chapter basis, as I freely admit that I have not yet planned everything. If you, my readers, see something I have missed, please inform me; my sole wish is to entertain, not to offend by omitting what is due.

All non-sexual chapters will most likely be about a T-rating for this book of the series, though plot threads addressed in future books will lead into firm M-territory due to extreme violence. Be aware that this may change at any time, and I do not pretend that this story will be anything less than a very dark take on some things the Pokemon Company wisely did not follow up on.

One last note: Regular speech will be conducted in normal fashion, untranslated Poke-speech will be in unquoted italics, and translated speech/telepathy will be in quoted italics. Thoughts will be noted in bold. If you see something weird involving an error with this, let me know.

And, with those issues out of the way, on with the show!


	2. Chapter 1:The Call

Chapter 1: The Call

In the gentle pre-dawn glow, shielded by the shadows of the mountains, three figures stood before an old wooden bridge leading into the mountains of Johto's Route 46. The hunched old man, the youth with his walking stick, and the serpent with her bejeweled necklace seemed to share a collective sigh, their parting words already shared, and the youth briefly embraced the man, the young serpent coiling herself about both of them to earn a joyful burst of laughter as the odd family separated itself. Two of them turned their back on the village of dragon Pokémon, striding forth into the darkness, and the third returned to his simple home, stopping to gaze once more at the child and his partner from his doorstep as he murmured to a familiar specter in the darkness:  
"He'll make a good trainer, my old friend. Thank you for your help in teaching his partner so well."

 _The honor is mine, Elder. It has been the duty of my species to watch over the dragons that reside here for centuries_ , his partner rumbled in his native tongue, struggling to restrain the noise born of his large frame.

"I just hope he's ready. He's been through so much."

 _So has she_.

"… I'll be coming for you again soon; there will be challengers, and Clair seems to be going forward with her plans. I'll need your strength."

There was a growl of affirmation, a blast of wind, and the dawn was still and peaceful once more. Satisfied, the man returned to his home.

* * *

"Well, Diana, we did it. Sorry it didn't happen sooner, but at least Dad helped," the child remarked to his partner as the village of their childhood faded into the stone cliffs behind them.

 _You and I weren't ready; how was it your fault?_ she retorted as she coiled around her Trainer's walking stick, it's shadow rapidly shrinking as the sun soared into the sky.

"If that was a comment on my apology, you know it was my call to wait. We could've just left with a note years ago."

 _That would not have gone well_ , the dragoness noted humorously, a hint of her strange laughing chirps suffusing her speech. He smiled; her laughter always brightened everything, always put his mind at ease.

"You know, I wonder who we'll meet. I've spent so long at home, feels odd to be on the road where any Pokémon could be a future partner. What do you think?"

Diana only nodded, smiling at him confidently.

"Hey…That's Everwhite Town, right? First village on the route, if I remember rightly. We'll break there for lunch," he said, his free hand caressing the serpent's face.

* * *

"'Town of Eternal Snow', huh?" he muttered, examining the sign at the entrance of the little town perched so high above the valleys below. "Well, that part's right at least; it's freezing up here," he grumbled, sparing a moment to look back down the mountain at Blackthorn City.

 _Can we find a place already? I don't even have a coat,_ _Nicholas, and yet you're complaining?!_ , the Dragonair on his shoulder whined, a shiver running down her length as she lightly smacked him on the back of his beige cap.

"Right, dragon-type, cold, I get it, no need for the dope slap. Let's see…There we go," he mumbled, stumbling into a quiet Kantonian café, sitting at the bar. "Rice with sweet-sour chicken," he said briefly to the waitress, noting the menu options. "And add a cola to that." As the dull minutes passed, he heard a pair of hikers coming in from the chill, speaking heartily about something, as he himself listened, his eyes focused on the kitchen and concealing his intent:

"Hey, hear that rumor going 'round?" one of them said, his overly large cap bobbing as he spoke.

"The one 'bout an Absol in the mountains?" the other said, his words muffled by a beard that covered his jaw completely.

"'At's the one. Word says there's a bounty on its head, ran from some important folks with a lab in the mountains off east."

At that point, Nicholas stood up, getting between the two men. "Did I hear you right? Something about an Absol out here?" he asked bluntly.

"Good ear, kid," the one with the beard said before taking a swig of beer, "that Pokémon's been out there a few days now. One million in cash for the one who can retrieve her unharmed."

"That's a big 'if'," his partner muttered bitterly, downing his mug of cider from the counter with a belch. "Little bitch wiped out our entire crew, nearly attacked us before we ran down the mountain. Every single one of those Pokémon were trained mountain guys, real badasses, and that tiny... _thing_ took them down without taking a hit! Nearly turned that face-blade-horn thing on us afterward, to boot; not worth the trouble of that bounty."

"And which way was this Pokémon?" he asked, biting his tongue and struggling not to glare at them as he maintained a polite smile. **Figures they'd treat a Pokémon as some evil creature from _their_ attacks provoking them; so many forget what they are,** he thought bitterly, his fist clenching as Diana squeezed him in their shared fury.

"Pokémon? No. Monster? Off to the south, on Mount Everwhite. Can't miss it; the main trail south actually circles around it. I wouldn't try it; you don't look ready," the man with the beard warned.

"Whatever. Thank you for the information," he said coldly, returning to eat his meal without a glance back. Quietly, he whispered to the serpent perched on his shoulder, "So, wanna go look? I've got a feeling that this isn't just a case of a Pokémon gone for a run, or of some territorial dispute. Absol don't trust humans, but they don't just assault them in the mountains, wipe out entire teams, and then try to attack the Trainers," he argued. "If that Pokémon's hurt or running from something, we help. If Absol's out to hurt people, we'll him or her and sort it out."

His partner nodded. _We can do this. And it's a mystery I wanna solve,_ she murmured thoughtfully, munching a bit of their shared meal.

"Alright then. We'll finish, and then we'll go," he decided, eyeing a piece of his lunch as he sipped his cola. "First real adventure, huh?"

 _Let's just hope it isn't our last_ , she says nervously, laughing a bit with him at the idea.


	3. Chapter 2: Sounds of Frost and Thunder

Chapter 2: Sounds of Frost and Thunder

Diana and Nicholas, with their mission in mind, now began the grueling hike toward the peak, the trek made mostly in silence as they both scanned the trees and the cliffs for a fleeting motion, the omnipresent ice and snow swallowing sound with ease.

 _Nicholas, I can't take it, too cold,_ she gasped as her body trembled. " _Help-me,"_ she pleaded, trying to squirm into her surprised Trainer's maroon coat.

"Sorry, girl; go ahead and take a rest. I'll call you out if anything happens; don't worry about me," he whispered sympathetically, her body vanishing in a flash of crimson light. With a sigh of resignation, he continues his journey up the mountain, flanked by the sun above, the icy mountain to his right, and the clouds seemingly hovering just above the sheer drop of hundreds of feet to the left. Every step grew tougher, every breath becoming more visible with the height, yet his eyes ceaselessly traced the tracks in the few patches of exposed dirt, following the hikers' path up the mountain without complaint or hesitation.

* * *

Trudging through what had quickly become a frigid snow shower, Nicholas stood, listening to the biting wind as the tiniest of sounds was carried in. In moments, he shed his pack, his hiking stick spinning up into his hands with almost instinctual fluidity as his entire body crouched into a fighter's stance "Alright, who's there? You've been stalking me for several minutes now. Are you an Absol?" he called into the trees, searching for any sign of motion.

Unfortunately for him, it came, a blur of light and dark that hit with enough force to knock the Trainer several feet back. Coughing from the force to his chest, he stood, a strike ready for the next approach that resulted in a draw, horn clashing against wood and giving both parties a clear look at each other. What struck Nicholas first was not the creature's beautiful fur, or astounding strength, but rather a collection of scars across what once would have been a gentle face, the signs of unknowable tragedy.

This Absol, on the other hand, did not bother examining him, instead shouting, in impeccable, if harsh, English, "Who the hell are you?!" as the horn slipped under his weapon, tossing it aside. Taking advantage of his shock, this Absol pressed the advantage, tackling him to the ground with the horn at his throat. Lowering her voice, the Absol's gender became clear to Nicholas as she sneered, "Another weakling? How many do those bastards plan to send after me? Better run, little boy, 'fore they send somebody who won't care you're in the way."

With a growl more Pokémon than human, he slams her horn down onto his collar, handling the blade carefully as he thrusts his hips out and climbs over her, his legs grabbing hold of her and shoving her back long enough for him to stand again. "I'd ask about the English-speaking, but would you stop trying to kill me for ten friggin' seconds?!" he yelled, panting from the sudden fight in the frigid conditions. "Let's start with names? I am Nicholas Drake, of Blackthorn City's Dragon Clan. Who are you?" he questioned in the most genial tone he could muster against the violent Absol.

She eyed him, a degree of cautious curiosity evident in her eyes as she raises her head, no longer pointing her horn at him. "I have several names. OS-001 is my name, but I've taken to calling myself Lethe," she declares, bitterness in her voice. "Why have you come? I drove enough of your kind away, all of them wanting cash or glory, and yet you did not send any Pokémon to fight me. Are you _that_ arrogant?" she sneers, her forepaws stomping the ground in an effort to discharge what Nicholas could only imagine was fury. "Why can't you just leave, me _alone!?_ " she screams.

"I didn't come for a bounty, Lethe," he says soothingly, lowering his hands and kneeling in the hardened snow in a gamble to win over the distraught Absol. "I sent no Pokémon because my partner, sweet Diana, couldn't withstand the cold, and I couldn't hurt her like that. You seem hurt; are you okay?" He gently smiles at her, his palms on his thighs.

She studies him for a moment, before a small tear seems to trail down her face. Nicholas's eyes widen at her reaction, his body rising slowly to move toward her, freezing as she spoke in a vulnerable tone, "And how do I know you aren't just sweet-talking me? You aren't the first seemingly nice guy to pretend to help me."

"Why would I? I came because I heard the stories of an Absol way out here, far from any normal home, that took down many Trainers. If they were hunting you, I'm sorry. And what harm would it do to tell me your story, even if I wanted to trick you?" he offered, sitting down once more.

"I..." she began, before a sound of thunder blew the snow in front of him into dust, sending Lethe darting for the trees and Nicholas diving for his staff. "I thought you said you were a friend!" she screamed.

"I-I am? Who's there!" he yelled, anger creeping into his voice at the interruption, before his blood ran cold at the sound of a woman's voice:

"Retrieve the target, no mistakes. Terminate the boy; he's seen too much." The voice's owner soon appeared out of the blowing snow atop a sleek, olive vehicle with treads built for the mountains, a smoking, massive pistol now aimed at Nicholas while a pair of men next to her, masked in full white armor, leveled some exotic sort of weaponry at Lethe.

Immediately assessing the situation, he drew on his instincts, diving for the white-haired woman's weapon. As he fell onto her, he yelled, "Lethe, run! Get out of here, I'll hold them!" He was too late, two blasts of amber light arcing and hitting the fleeing Pokémon, her petrified body hitting the frozen ground as he looked on in horror. Taking advantage of his distraction, the woman smashed his jaw with her elbow, before kicking his ribcage hard enough to make a sickening crack, his body rolling into the brush nearby.

"Find him. Finish him. No mistakes, no witness, no body."

"Yes ma'am," the men replied in unison, drawing sidearms of their own before moving methodically through the woods. Shortly, Nicholas caught a glimpse of a plate-like object picking up Lethe, her stone-like body trapped under an energy barrier as she was presented to the mysterious attacker. Seemingly satisfied, she left the men to their work, taking off on her snowmobile with her prize. He growled under his breath, weighing his options. _Diana won't work here, and I can't put her through that, plus they probably have some Pokémon anyway. My staff's out of reach, and they've got weapons. I'm injured and unarmored, they've got plates and are fresh. Great_. With a roar, he lunged at one of the men who wandered too close to the bush he was using, half in pain, half in fury.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for that crappy chapter to start with. I'm getting better, I hope, and here's a bit of action. We also introduce a few new characters, always good.

Also, I'm still fleshing out the teams for Nicholas and an eventual female companion. Nicholas has 4 done, the companion has one. Suggestions for species, names, personalities, etc. are welcome, and I'll give you a shout out in their introductory chapters if you'd like and your character suggestions are used!

As always, read, enjoy, and, if you'd like, leave a review!


	4. Chapter 3: Armor and Snow, White as Bone

Chapter 3: Armor and Snow, White as Bone

Two of the men lay in the snow, their armor partially yanked off their bodies, one curled into a ball and the other howling in pain on his back as he cradled his broken arms on his stomach. A third figure crouched over them, searching the devices on their belts intently. With a sigh, he stood up, cradling a simple cell phone as he examines the smashed remains of their weapons. A few beeps ring through the icy air, a woman's voice comes through, cut off by Nicholas's:

"Can you track my position? Two Pokémon poachers are down at my mark, send Rangers. Poachers are neutralized for the moment," he barks, grimacing at his wounded jaw. Using some rope from the men's belts, he tied them to a tree, ignoring their pained protests.

"Sir, I,"

"Just do it!" he snarled, tossing the phone into the snow as he sprinted toward the vehicles the attackers arrived in, his body curling down to pluck his staff from the frost. With a grunt, his hand went to his ribs, his knee hitting the fresh snowfall. _How...? That was...extreme, never met somebody that strong. Note to self, avoid her,"_ he half-thought, half-mumbled, climbing atop one of the snowmobiles and gunning the engine, disappearing into the blowing snow as he followed what was left of the trail, ominous black clouds obscuring the mountains in the distance.

* * *

The trail soon was buried by the coming storm, but this proved no hindrance to the visibility of a massive grey structure in the valley ahead, being below the coming clouds. With a pair of binoculars pilfered from the vehicle's supplies, he observed the behemoth, the people around it dressed in the strange white armor numbering more than a dozen. "Too many to rush, and I'll never pass for one of their goons..." he muttered.

He ditches the vehicle, leaping down the steep slope and using the snow to keep his acceleration steady, a plume of the frozen rain concealing his body from prying eyes below. With a resounding thud, he hit the rock, his legs contracting and then springing forward with practiced ease, a blur of motion darting for a nearby boulder. "So...far...so good," he panted, peeking from around the rock to see two men guarding the entry to the massive thing, their bulky weapons at attention; he'd never get past them intact. Up close, he could also see a quartet of large ducted engines flanking the vehicle, as well as something else that chilled him far worse than the approaching blizzard: a symbol, emblazoned on the side, the black and white flag of the long-dead Cipher. Cipher, the plague of Orre for more than a decade, Cipher, the organization that would have brought even the League to its knees at its height.

 _How?_ he wondered, before fury replaced his bewilderment. _That's why Lethe fled; she was used by_ them _!_ he realized, his senses sharpening with the anger and plucking a route into the vehicle from his vision almost instantly: a side door, still open for maintenance, an unarmed and unarmored technician using it as he sat smoking a rather old-fashioned cigar. _Perfect_.

The poor soul never saw the kid coming, an elbow smashing his head into the armored plating of the massive airship, follow by a punch to the kidney that was enough to put him down. Nicholas dragged the man inside, ducking into a maintenance room to hide him. He left the door unlocked, not desiring necessarily to torture him, as he poked his head around the corner ahead, the airship a maze of steel hallways and darkened rooms. A dulled alarm sounded, the entire ship seeming to come alive around him as the entrance he used slammed shut automatically. _"_ Yeah, yeah, I get it, can't turn back, danger ahead," he deadpanned, the sound fading quickly into the thrum of the engines nearby.

Refocusing, he began to move down the hallway, crouched and ready to pounce as his heart pounded inside his chest. Ahead, a few signs and a map, sparingly marked and clearly meant for the crew, adorned the otherwise-bare walls: "Asset Containment", "Armory", "Hangar"...The signs gave him pause: while Lethe, and other captured Pokémon, were probably in containment, getting himself killed wouldn't help, and the armory was bound to have armor. _And a gun...maybe_ , he thought queasily, carefully moving toward the correct room.

* * *

He stood in the room in solely his shirt and pants after stripping off his outer clothes and stowing them in his travel pack, debating his options. As expected, spares for the plain white armor of the poachers- who appeared to at least be working for Cipher at the moment- were abundant, as were handguns, knives, and special weaponry, like those used on Lethe, he presumed were for subduing Pokémon.

But, one box continued to catch his eye, marked for arrival only a few days prior and labeled as restricted access. Inside, he had found a black suit, trimmer than the white armor but feeling much tougher in his hands; even the cloth of the suit could not be pierced by the knives he tried on them, and the paint on the plates refused to budge. _Probably experimental armor, meant for the commanding officer I met earlier_ , he reasoned, pulling it out as he opted for survivability over blending in. To his surprise

The suit was a near-perfect fit, its fabric contracting flawlessly. Plates covered his chest, groin, shoulders, and limbs in pieces that shifted over each other smoothly, while a thick collar covered his neck without encumbering it. The entire suit, including the helmet now cradled in the gauntlets, refused to shine in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the room, a smooth charcoal finish leaving it sitting like a physical shadow. He shuddered; the armor was clearly designed for lethal, stealthy efficiency, like a monster from a nightmare crossed with a machine.

He slipped the form-fitting helmet over himself, a tactical display coming alive on the helmet's visor with vital signs, maps, radar, more information than he could process. He wished for it to leave- and it did. _They...they did it?_ he realized, accidentally pulling up records he recognized: newspapers, dated years ago, efforts by researchers to map the mind to a machine remotely, to facilitate human-Pokémon communication. _They failed...but Cipher must have made it work_...Shaking off the shock, he called up a manual on the screen, skimming it before arriving at a portion summarizing enhancements over previous designs:

"The Mark IV Single-Operator Force Multiplication System, or SOFMS, is capable of remote transport, described by technicians as an upscale variant of Pokémon storage technology, allowing for field operators to blend into local populations more effectively. In addition, the System is equipped with first-generation shielding, based upon the energy barriers that have long been thought to be the source of Pokémon's incredible durability to energy attack. Tests indicate resistance to small-arms fire and kinetic impact, though heavier shielding was deemed unwieldy for suit usage due to excessive power consumption. It is recommended that, before deployment, suit operators review the full manu-"

Nicholas was cut off by a loud bang on the door, the computer replacing the manual with the original tactical interface as he reacted to the threat. Throwing his pack over his shoulder, he hefted the staff in his right hand and clipped a strangely-shaped pistol off the wall to his hip, eyeing the door warily. It opened, and he fired for where the legs would be-except no bullets flew, only a claw that snapped onto a very surprised grunt's leg. Shaking off his own shock, he smashes aside the grunt's submachine gun, driving the butt of the weapon under his helmet and cracking his jaw, the grunt being knocked up before being yanked to the ground by the cable. Scrambling for his sidearm, his last efforts are ended with Nicholas's boot smashing into the unarmored part of his knee joint, the gun sent flying from the spasms of the poacher's pain. Unfortunately, he was not silenced:

"Intruder in Sector Alpha-3, all decks, intrude-" he screamed down the hall and into his helmet, before being silenced as he was tossed into the armory behind its thick armored walls.

And in that moment, Nicholas's newly-acquired helmet showed movement-everywhere. _"_ Dang it," he grumbled, stowing his new pistol and hefting the staff as he ran, glancing at the map as he passed it on the way to his goal. More grunts seemed to be everywhere, his staff stained from chips of paint and blood from smashed noses as he fought with a desperate fury, two of them around a corner forcing him now into a corner with raised fists, his staff behind them. "That all you got?" he growled, lunging with cupped hands and driving into their throats simultaneously, parting them without stopping as he gripped his staff and used their moment of distracted choking to flee, stopping in front of the door and slipping in at last with a sigh of relief.


	5. Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm

[A/N: Sorry for the delay; been very busy lately staring with my freshman year at university as an engineer (and my continued addiction to Destiny doesn't help XD). To those following this story still, thanks. I promise, if you haven't figured out who Nicholas is fighting, and what her status is in canon, it will be revealed in this chapter. For those who followed the anime back before Black and White, I hope you enjoy her presence. She does, however, result in a fairly brutal fight scene, so be warned.]

And a little bit I'm going to start doing in parentheses: when I have a song that fits a mood, or one that helped me paint my mental image of a scene, I'll write it in. Pretty much everything I add can be found easily enough on YouTube, so just do a quick search of the title and source if you want to listen to my muses.

Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm

With the door latched behind him, a set of harsh neon lights ignited over his head, illuminating a horrible sight. Dumbfounded, Nicholas could only stare at the dozens of glass cages in the cubicles on the walls, encasing the stony forms of Pokémon after Pokémon, all locked in stasis. At the back was a computer and some machine he thought he recognized from the Pokémon Center back home, before he stepped closer and confirmed it: a transporter, hooked up to the system holding the Pokémon prisoner.

(Recommended music: Black Blade, by Two Steps from Hell)

"Not much time...might be crazy enough to work," he mumbled, touching the keyboard- and his armor's display lit up again, code flying by faster than any human eye could follow, a wireless uplink winking on in the upper-left of his vision before the system booted itself up on standby. With a thought, he willed the transport system onto the screen, along with its multiple layers of security: passwords, required external drives with encrypted passcodes, biometrics...and it all vanished. More code flashed across the screen as the computer fought a short, furious battle with his armor, failing miserably as the transporter network activated and went to standby. On the screen was a list of destinations; most were completely unknown to him, but he was able to pick out the Pokémon Center for Cherrygrove City to the southwest- an emergency transport point, he reasoned, setting the entire list of Pokémon in the room for transport.

*CLANG*

The sound of more attackers assembling outside distracted him for a moment before he began desperately searching the list of targeted Pokémon, praying he could find Lethe. _Where_ is _she?!_ he thought desperately, a simple thought setting the system to send what prisoners he found as he prepared his weapon, pointing it at the now-dented door. "Alright, I'm coming out," he said meekly, as the slamming ceased. He did so, lowering his weapon.

"Hands up, no tricks," a voice snarled as the door opened. Two of the brilliant white gauntlets held him steady, dragging him to the bridge while a third grunt held his staff.

"I came here with an Absol. Where is she?" he asked his captors, trying to sound afraid. "None of your business. The commander will deal with you," he sneered as they tossed him into the command center, his staff bouncing to the ground beside him as the door locked him in.

"So, you're the brat that's been invading my ship, making fools of my men, and stealing my equipment. Impressive for a kid," an icy voice echoed from a seat facing a window with a panoramic, semicircular view of the sky. Beyond the windows and the empty bridge, massive black clouds towered, a storm brewing within the ominous structures. His hand instinctively curled his fingers around the staff at his side, his body in a half-crouch ready to snap, as his whole body went rigid when he saw her eyes: they were gray and hard, the color of soft stratus clouds above a funeral, utterly lifeless despite a cold fury that burned within. "I told them to end you, and yet here you are, waltzing in without any fear of death. Why? What drives you? Did you seek to take Pokémon, to make yourself stronger?"

He stared, his eyebrows behind the visor meeting in a sharp _v_. "No. I wanted to protect them from you monsters. You took an Absol from the mountains, now... where...is...she!?" he spat.

She sighed, standing up to reveal a case-with the Absol helplessly petrified behind the glass- set behind her relative to him. "Hmph. So you think that this is being a hero? You should know, you're not the first _heerrro_ I've had to deal with," she said in exasperation, lunging forward with enough speed to slip past a hasty effort on Nicholas's part to guard-and she left a mark on the armor in the shape of her black glove.

Nicholas doubled over from the sucker punch, moving back and hefting his staff with one hand as the other went to the plate over his abdomen. "And I'm not like any Trainer you've fought," he countered in a strained tone, slipping into an adrenaline-fueled trance as years of practice guided his actions. He lunged forward, swinging his staff wide and correctly predicting she'd go for a spinning kick towards his stomach as he spun the staff back to his right side to block the hit, charging past her unscathed to reach the container. Taking advantage of her distracted grunt of pain from the aggressive defense he utilized against the poacher, he released the Absol, only to find after a flash of light that he was on his back and she was poised for a lethal blow. Thinking fast, he had the helmet fold back down, looking up with his hands up and his staff knocked away.

She blinked, stunned into withholding her claws by the face of the same stranger protecting her twice in one day after everything that had happened to her. She withdrew her paw, about to ask a question, before she flew across the floor with a piercing screech of pain and a splash of blood, barely able to move when she finally stopped. Nicholas, shocked by her sudden willingness to kill her prize, had his helmet on in seconds.

The poacher chuckled darkly, her massive handgun from earlier smoking in her hands as she shifted her aim towards him. "I told you, I don't lose. You know who I am, right? Ever heard of the bane of Sinnoh, the thief of spirit, Hunter J?" she bragged. "I'd offer you a last chance, but you'd just try to kill me, I imagine. Good riddance," she said simply, firing at an already-dodging Nicholas, hitting him squarely in the left ribcage with an ominous crack. He groaned, staying low as she waited for him to make an error. "Surrender, or I'll just shoot the Pokémon," she taunted, knowing he wouldn't leave an injured innocent behind.

 _Dang, she's smart too..,_ he thought to himself, cradling the spot he was hit. _Definitely cracked, maybe broken_ , he said to himself mentally, knowing the key to fighting while injured was staying calm and rational while maintaining a steady trickle of adrenaline to stay strong. Unfortunately, her threats were making that difficult, and she was right; he would never live with himself if she were killed from his lack of action. The fact hit him in the face then; even if he won this fight, every single person on board would be out to kill them both and enslave his precious Diana. _Gotta be another way..._ he considered. Eyeing the strange gun on his hip, he looked around, spotting a fire extinguisher on the wall opposite J. Taking aim, he fired, yanking it off the wall and tossing it to force his opponent to duck and leaving him an opening to reach out and drag the Absol to safety. "You okay?"

She groaned, trying fruitlessly to stand even as he tried to hold her down. "I've...got a bullet lodged in my chest, it cracked a few ribs on the way in, and a psychotic Pokémon Hunter is out for our blood. 'Course I'm fine," she deadpanned between labored breaths. "Need any ideas? Her chair has a parachute under the back; saw it as they brought me in here," she explained, leaving the rest of her insane plan unstated even as, to her shock, he nodded confidently.

(Cue Two Steps from Hell's "Jump", album _Power of Darkness_ )

"We jump? Alright, get ready," he whispered, crawling along the ground toward the main command station and grabbing the parachute. He breathed deeply, before slipping his bag to his side and his parachute to his back. He leapt up, already ducking as Hunter J took multiple shots for his head, missing by only the smallest of margins as the glass behind them shattered. He was forced to hang on with all his strength to a nearby console, stray debris flying out as he saw his wounded friend struggling. He dived for her, collecting her into his arms as he slid along the floor...and out the shattered remains of the window, cradling an injured Pokémon tightly and dragged through the sky by the burden of all of his equipment on his back. She screamed, he groaned in pain, and everything went white as the plunged through the storm building below.


	6. Chapter 5: The Wrath of Frost and Fire

(A/N: I keep failing at updating, but I promise, this story is never far from my thoughts. I've had it planned to some degree in my head for years now, and every song in my iPhone more or less is mapped to at least a scene, so every single day I see the scenes play out in my mind's eye, refining them and wishing I could write them. I'll get this done eventually. And not much action here, I know. Is that bad? Come on, I want opinions!)

(EDIT: First continuity error. Old version had it that Lethe was already caught. Updated to resolve conflict with future chapters.)

Chapter 5: The Wrath of Fire and Frost

First came the cold, tearing through his armor with ease as the storm's powerful gales tossed them about like a dinghy on the sea. He risked tightening his grip on the Pokémon in his arms, her pained cries only growing louder as the tighter grip forced a fresh trail of blood that seared his body as it ran between the gaps of the armor. The air was painfully thin, the Pokémon's cries quickly silenced as she panted for air, and his own breaths came shortly for a few moments; a whining sound in the back of the helmet sounded, dropping his helmet back into place as it began to filter the air to a manageable density. And then came the fire, as a wall of purple, searing plasma tore through the thunderhead below them, followed by a ferocious roar. Nicholas's eyes widened; he knew that sound all too well, though never before had it been able to inspire such dread. He could see his partner mouthing something, her words lost to the storm: _down,_ her face seemed to impress on him. " _Down...right. Gotta get this fight somewhere I can move, we're dead up-"_ he thought, his ideas shattered by a crack of thunder that seemed to emanate from everywhere at once. Nodding to her, he called upon something he had been given in Blackthorn: a few times when he was young, he had...

...

"Lean, Nicholas!" the old man's voice yelled alongside him, the Dragonite underneath himself looking back with concern. "He's a strong Pokémon, more than strong enough to carry you, but he can't hold you to his back. Feel the wind, take the smoothest course. Again!" he called to the small child riding the massive orange creature, as the dragon took off with the laughing boy doing his best to follow the advice. The wind stung his cheeks, the tough skin he gripped roughing up his gentle palms as he tried to understand what he meant. _Lean? All the way up here?_ he thought with a small shot of fear in his veins from looking to the ground; they weren't terribly high, and the Charizard beneath his father could easily catch an Onix, never mind a kid, but still...He took a breath, his partner lunged into the sky, and...

...

Shaking himself out of the memory, he kicked to the side, launching himself head-first into his fall, one hand extended to shield the fading life cradled in the other from the storm, and his legs straight as arrows as they accelerated into the storm-or rather, the blizzard, as the duo soon noticed. Chunks of ice hammered the duo, only adding to the Pokémon's suffering as the Trainer watched helplessly. More blood dripped from her as he watched with concern, knowing that her odds were only getting slimmer now. _Can't change the plan now_ , he had to remind himself, refocusing on following the downdraft he had slipped into. Soon enough, they descended beneath the cloud layer, both barely conscious from the cold and the battering; here, the winds were far more chaotic, yanking them through the mountains wildly. Fumbling momentarily, he risked moving the hand shielding his partner to pull the cord at his side, a parachute unfurling over them as they descended towards one of the lower, yet still white-tipped peaks. "BRACE!" he yelled, flipping himself over onto his back as they landed on the slope, rolling down the mountainside for a few dozen feet before the chute finally slowed them to a stop. He shoved the Absol aside, casting off the parachute as he stood up, wincing as his bruised body protested with a colorful array of numbed, chilled pain.

Their ordeal was not yet over, though; while he could see their opponent's Salamence searching with her airship near the horizon, far enough away to be reasonably safe, his partner was fading quickly, the white of her fur and the snow stained crimson in a slowly growing pool. He knelt at her side, yanking a shirt out of his bag without hesitation and preparing to tie it, only to sigh; the wound was much too large, her abdomen marred by the bullet hole. "How-how bad?" she groaned, her voice choked slightly.

"Judging by the sound, you're bleeding in the lungs. Bad, very bad. External bleeding is pretty minor, but in this cold, you've got an hour or two max. Assuming they don't find us, even. We won't stand a chance if we stay here, gotta move."

"Go. I'll never make it. What're you gonna do, carry me? Not like you can use a Ball, you and I both know they have emergency lockdown for something this bad," she said calmly, looking up at the visor above her as her red eyes drilled into his own.

"No...t going to happen," he growled, caressing her cheek with a bloodied gauntlet. "You think I'm walking away after all that? Nearest Pokémon Center, by my mark...2 miles. We can make it, just hang on," he ordered, heaving her into his arms with a gasp. He nearly took a knee from the strain; his ribcage was on fire by now, and the cold had already soaked through the armor enough to numb his muscles. "Stay...with me...Come on, talk to me. Lethe, that was your name, right? Come on, hang in there," he murmured, trudging down the mountainside.

She stared, stunned. "Why? Two miles, in a blizzard in the mountains. You'll be dead shortly after me, from the cold or them finding us. And you think I'll hang on? Such a sorry little kid...that Hunter had one thing right, you're some hero wannabe. I've seen a few; wanna know who lived and who died, when they made us who we were?" she growled, her words becoming less coherent as she slipped into some delirium of memory.

"Lethe, stay with me. You're not making sense, wake up!" he pleaded, growling as he glared down at his own legs. "Come on, run! Two miles...piece of cake," he whispered, forcing himself into a half-sprint with all of the weight on him, struggling to keep his footing. "One step at a time...Lethe, you're gonna make it, I swear..."

...

First one hour ticked by...then another. Lethe had long since gone unconscious, and, as far as Nicholas could tell through the delirium of pain and frost, she might have been dead already. He refused to yield, praying there was still a spark inside of her, even as his own body was on the brink of failure. He could see through the haze of snow and the recently arrived darkness of night ahead, barely any light making it through- but there was a light: the one he remembered marked a Pokémon Center on the map, in the only navigable route through the mountains. He forced one last burst of energy, charging over the frozen snow and rock past the black silhouettes of trees, collapsing only a few strides from the door as the Pokémon spilled from his grasp. He could see now: her chest rose very slightly. _Still alive_ , he marveled, as he then saw why: the wound had frozen over in the cold entirely, sealing the bleeding. What struck him was that, somehow, the cold hadn't killed her outright, but there was no time to consider. He stood up, as his ribs hurt worse than ever. Punching a button in the gauntlet to get the armor to retract into its Pokeball-like storage, and ignoring the now-familiar bite of the icy wind, he pulled up his shirt to look: a mottle of purple covered his side, as his heart fell. _That's not a mere bruise, is it?_ he wondered, as he nearly toppled. He moved to the door, scooping up Lethe as he limped inside. The nurse behind the counter, clearly closing up her shift for the night, stared for several moments, before saying a few words that escaped Nicholas. He mumbled something: "Gunshot wound...save her...please," before finally collapsing, gasping for air...

...

He woke up sometime later, remembering a few hazy moments from the past hour...or was it a day or a week? He couldn't decide; all that he remembered was the sudden warmth, the sudden, sharp pain against the dull ache. He looked out the window, his eyes wide: they were somewhere in the southern plains, if he were to guess, not the mountains near Blackthorn. His next thought turned to why he had pulled such a stunt, his body shooting up in bed, only to fall back down as he groaned. "Lethe.." he moaned, forcing himself to look around; he was tethered to a console in the wall, a half-dozen tubes inserted into his right arm. Spying a button on the wall, he slapped it, only to be caught off-guard by a woman in a plain blue scrub coming in only a second later.

"Oh, you're awake! I was just coming in to check on-"

"Well, I'm fine. Where's the Absol I came in with?" he demanded, his eyes cold and angry before he devolved into a fit of coughing; he finished, and his face softened. "I...sorry, that was uncalled for. Do you know where...?"

"I was hoping you'd ask-she asked the same about you two days ago. Imagine our surprise when she spoke in English; we tried to get her to say something about what happened, but she's been in and out at best. You're Nicholas, aren't you? Practically the only thing that she said that made any sense was something about you saving her life."

"More or less, yeah; glad she got that part. So, can I see her?"

"No...but I think we can arrange for her to see you. Turns out that, while she was severely hurt from the bullet, hypothermia, and general trauma, she was more resilient than any Pokémon we've ever seen. You, on the other hand...aside from extensive hypothermia, we found significant internal bleeding as a result of multiple cracked ribs. Your right lung was partially deflated from that same injury, as well; tell me, what...what happened out there? I've got an eyewitness from the Route 46 Pokémon Center pegging you as carrying a fully-grown Absol unaided in the condition we found you, so who are you?" she rattled off, staring in awe at the battered, bandaged kid. She continued to babble on, as he slumped against the bed, suddenly very tired; that stunt yesterday...err, the other day, apparently, had left him with what he could only imagine was something akin to a hangover: everything hurt. Soon, with her soft voice chirping in his ears, he passed out again, resolving to get up and see the Absol next time he became conscious.


	7. Chapter 6: Battered, Bruised, and Bored

(A/N Well, last chapter was dark. Bit of a cryptic chapter here, but at least nobody's dying. Also a vote, if anyone wants; message me/review, do you want these two's backstories to come out sooner or broken up over a long while?)

(And first fave, huge shout-out to Wulfyre for that! Also, keep the reviews coming; writing is not my strongest skill, and I need advice. I'm an engineering student, not an artist, but I really want to tell this story. Finally, so very sorry for delays! I will do what I can to get another chapter out in the next 3 weeks, and after that at least a few over the winter break.)

Chapter 6: Winds of New Beginnings, Words of Old Beginnings

Several hours later, he finally woke up to see a familiar Pokémon at his side, her head nuzzled into his side as she slept quietly; she'd clearly fallen asleep waiting to talk to him. He watched her a bit more closely: her sleep was not so tranquil as it seemed, her mouth in a slight grimace as every muscled clenched and relaxed, clearly the result of a bad dream. "Hey, Lethe?" he murmured, shaking her head with his left palm. "Come on, it's okay now," he whispered gently, in a tone he learned long ago for Diana when she was young. She woke up slowly, groggy, incomprehensible gibberish grinding past her teeth before her eyes opened, fixing on him as her mouth opened with a tiny gasp.

"You...how? They all said," she managed to get out, before she buried her face in his chest and held him close, her carefully controlling her horn-and, unfortunately, managing to aggravate his chest wounds. He grunted, pushing her aside and shakily controlling his breathing for several long, agonizing seconds.

"Please, don't do that again," he groaned, smiling apologetically as she looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"Then don't worry me so much, alright? You've been out for days, and last I remember, you were nearly dead," she countered, somehow sounding angry by now and causing Nicholas to simply stare.

"Gee, one second you act like you couldn't live without me, the next you wanna yell at me? Real sweet, aren't you?" he teased, as she herself looked stunned, as though somebody had slapped her. Looking as dignified as she could with the bandages around her torso, she left the room with her head raised proudly, leaving him alone and utterly bewildered by the Absol's actions. As she turned and glanced at him on the way out, he swore he could see her cheeks flushed faintly- but that couldn't be, not from her.

...

Several days had passed, with several similar encounters, most of them started and ended by Lethe herself, that left him utterly unable to predict the dark-type's behavior. His body had healed at a rate hailed by the staff as miraculous; as it turned out, the hospital itself, situated just outside of the tiny New Bark Town, was nearly empty, and so the story of somebody wandering in from a monstrous winter blizzard carrying a large Pokémon and marred by bullets had spread rapidly. By now, he was packing his belongings in his room as Lethe watched from the doorway, her crimson irises shimmering in contrast to the muted dark tones of her face. "So where are you going now, kid? Shouldn't you be resting, maybe calling home for help?" she asked dismissively; her mood shifts had gotten a bit more extreme over the time they spent recovering.

"New Bark Town isn't far, so this whole thing brought me closer anyway. I'm signing on for the Pokémon League and for an official Trainer license," he said simply, as she rolled her eyes. "Really, why do you care if all you're going to do is be insulting? I saved your life, doesn't mean I need your antics," he grumbled, met with an arrogant chuckle from the Disaster Pokémon.

"Seriously, why bother? Sending Pokémon to fight your battles for sport? You saw what Trainers do out-" she started, before he interrupted:

"And you saw I'm no ordinary Trainer; did you see me put anyone in danger besides myself back there? I fight when I have to, and my only partner trained for years because she wants this too; if she didn't, I'd just be a simple traveler. If I wanted to take you for my own, wouldn't I have tried the instant I saw you? Or try to fend off the poacher teams and take advantage of their intervention?" he countered, staring her down as each question seemed to knock her own remarks out of her lungs. "Now, unless you're going to tell me why you're even in this place still, leave me in peace. You could have left a while ago, so why do you want to know what becomes of me if you supposedly hate who I am?"

At this point, she was glaring at him, and for a few moments he feared that he'd been a bit too bold to challenge her. Then she relaxed, sighing as her temper faded. "Okay, fine, you win. I'm here 'cause I have nowhere else to go, and you clearly are my best chance of not getting caught by those monsters again. Will you let me tag along or what?" she snapped, even as she turned her head away to break their mutual staring.

"Nowhere to go? You really are hiding something...but you're not going to tell me, are you?"

"Nope." She looked back for a moment, giving a small, mischievous smile that only disturbed him more. "

"Figures. Fine, you can come...but I'll be wringing out that explanation sooner or later."

"...I should go," she grumbled, reaching into his bag and tapping one of the special Poke Balls his father had given him years ago: a Premier Ball. Sighing, the Trainer reached in and clipped his newest companion to his belt; for better or worse, she was going with him. He rolled his shoulders and rubbed his neck, stretching before he smoothly reached down and tossed his bag on his back. The remarkable little hexagon that stored the armor responsible for saving them both gleamed as he palmed it from his pocket; as unpleasant a memento as it could be, it could certainly be helpful. _Not like anyone's arresting me for stealing from_ them _of all people_ , he argued to himself, putting it back; he would find a proper place to store it later. With his belongings gathered, and the situation with his bizarre new companion temporarily resolved, he swung his gaze around the room and nodded before picking up his staff, satisfied everything was in order before he stepped outside to meet the waiting nurse.

A small pile of paperwork, and a rather tense call from home that left him shaken, Nicholas was back on the road, breathing heavily; while the road itself was mildly hilly, the wounds still hurt worse than most of his old training injuries. He looked up, hoping for a sight to distract him from the constant stinging, and his wish was well-met; below, the small buildings of New Bark Town's quaint homes and shops greeted his eyes as the soothing sound and feeling of a warm breeze from down the mountain caressed his face and his ears. A soft smile painted on his face, he slowly made his way down, the sun moving down through the sky; while it'd be evening by the time he arrived, at least it only took a day.


	8. Chapter 7: Winds of New Beginnings

(A/N: *Shakes head in dismay*. Really, all this time since updating? I'm sad. Sorry, final exams and depression screwed me over last semester and most of the winter break, and I've only just now found my passion again. Anyone who is still waiting, I give my deepest thanks; I'll try not to have so long a gap again, and at latest should hopefully have something ready during the Spring Break. Anyhow, one question: who is in favor, or against, a translator mechanism for Pokémon, technological or otherwise? Would it cheapen the story or allow for better character development?)

(...On with the show!)

Chapter 7: Winds of New Beginnings

The professor's lab was rather easy to find, being the largest building in the entire town and about a block of houses away from where the gentle waves draped themselves against the cool sands in the east. Behind him, the frost-capped peaks and frenzied cloud cover provided a stark contrast to the soft, ruddy colors of the leaves in the trees along the path, the ginger light of the sun setting on the plains to the west, and the small patches of snow in the grass; he sighed at it, basking in the tranquility for several long seconds before finally entering the town, drawing a few odd looks with his occasional grimace of discomfort from his chest. He paid them little heed, eager to arrive after having been delayed so long.

Surprisingly-perhaps as a result of his father's doings, he mused- the one and only Professor Elm was waiting, waving him down. _Wow, he remembered...and he looks prepared. Considering all the stories of the 'absent-minded genius'..._ he wondered to himself, even as he waved in return and half-jogged for several seconds to close the gap between them.

"Hey there! Uh...Ethan, right-wait., no, he was a few days ago...Nicholas, right?" Elm said, as the young Trainer couldn't help but chuckle; he hadn't really changed much from all the years ago. He nodded, calling out Diana in a flash of soft light; she'd be happy to see both of them, especially since she'd been out of the loop for all but a couple of hours in the hospital. Instantly, she coiled around him, draping herself over his shoulder and around his hip like a sash, nuzzling his cheeks with her eyes closed. A few moments later, she opened them again, shifting her gaze to the man in the lab coat, instantly recognizing him and cooing softly, giving her version of a smile. He, in return, stepped forward, gently stroking the back of her head with a look of plain awe. "She evolved? I _have_ been gone a long time, haven't I? Come on into my lab!"

...

Clearly, the professor had some assistance; it seemed unlikely he'd be able to keep the place this clean. In every regard, it fit his mental image of what a laboratory should look like, save for one thing: the Pokémon. Flying in a raised atrium in the ceiling, swimming in a pool with no clear division between the interior and exterior, or simply roaming the lab and the fields outside, they were unbound, free to roam, as Nick stared in awe. "Professor...when did all this happen? Aren't most labs...?" he trailed off, as the man next to him laughed.

"Yes, it's not quite the most professional setup; I'll bet you're thinking most labs don't keep this many Pokémon out in the open. But...it's my research. While I'm better known for my work in the field, I ceased my research into Pokémon evolution years ago...more or less. To be accurate, I'm studying the 'bond' that exists between people and Pokémon, and how it affects them. I'm sure you know some effects- a few attacks, a few strange evolutionary patterns here and there- but I'm trying to see what else exists. I'm glad that your arrival wasn't delayed too badly; I was actually scheduled to visit Kalos in less than a week from now."

"Interesting research...but why Kalos? Um, no offense, but the region's finest expert...one Professor Sycamore, if I recall rightly- is hardly a specialist in this field. Wouldn't maybe Birch in Hoenn be more suitable, with his knowledge on how environmental factors affect Pokemon?" Nick offered, his eyes drifting over the many species present and the younger Trainers visiting them.

"It's not a bad idea, I guess, but here's where things get complicated. Over the past few years, I've heard rumors of Pokémon with new evolutions, and many of them are focused in Kalos. Also, from that region, there are mentions of how these evolutions might have once existed but do not. We've called in Professor Rowan of Sinnoh to this as well, for reasons I'm sure you might imagine, and hopefully we can sort this out...but I'm rambling, aren't I?" He chuckled heartily, leading the Trainer and his serpent up to the second floor, dodging a rogue Aipom with practiced ease. "Again, sorry for the rancor- that one's...mischievous. See that Oran Berry in his left paw? Look to your left and down." Right on cue, a Tailow darted up between the spiraling stairwell and the deck of the partial upper floor, pecking his head painfully. "Now, look carefully, and don't be-"

"I know, Professor, not a real attack. The arc on that Tailow's neck is incorrect for generating any real force to compensate for the species' small size, and that Aipom isn't making a proper attempt at evasion as one normally might. A game?"

"...He raised you too well, didn't he? He literally called you the last true Trainer of Blackthorn a few weeks ago when he spoke to me; he wasn't lying. Haven't seen someone of both your temper and your knowledge in a long time from those parts, him excluded. But how's your battling? Might I have the privilege?"

Diana swept her sinuous form between them, eyes narrowed to a delighted smirk and a nod. "Of course, Professor...one on one, of course. I...caught another on my way here, but I doubt she's ready-" His words died in his throat as a Ball on his hip gave off a flash of light, the Absol from the mountains appearing gracefully before an equally dumbfounded Elm. "Lethe..."

"Yeah, that's my name, don't wear it out. It's sooo boring in there...maybe you can give me some exercise, old man!" She took up a crouched battling pose, not yet lunging as Elm stared and her Trainer cringed.

"Lethe...you've gotta stop-"

"You talk!? I...I've got to do this, let me find a Pokémon, find some space, and..." His words trailed off into oblivion as he tore through some of the messier parts of his office; while his actual work had clearly been straightened by a secretary or assistant, his personal effects were a whole other matter.

"Of course I talk," she muttered, looking back to Nick. "So, ready for-"

"Stop. Seriously. Are you going to be making a mess of things the whole trip?!" She opened her mouth to protest, only for him to offer a glare that instantly told her to stay quiet...though it worked a bit too well, as she backed off, her eyes cast downward and her whole body crouched. Before he could ponder her unexpected reaction, Elm had returned, proffering a rather beaten-up Great Ball, too ecstatic to notice Lethe's reaction.

"Shall we head outside?

...

Fortunately for them both, the Professor had his fair share of battling Trainers come by, and had with some help cleared a crude arena, more of a marked dirt square in the grass than anything else. With Lethe refusing to speak or come along, lost in her own thoughts, they numbered four, with the Professor and the Furret he'd called out pitted against Nicholas and his coiled dragoness.

"Professor, the first attack is yours," he said calmly, eyes ceasing to focus as he slipped into a half-crouched stance, ready to spring or to stand equally.

"Furret...Dizzy Punch!" The Pokémon responded quickly, lunging with quick movements from side to side, paws glowing in a confusing, swirling white light that betrayed a fair degree of power.

"I give you the first move...and you took it. Diana, Thunderbolt, sixty-zero ," he continued, not even looking at her as he eyed the Professor, the smell of ozone and the cry of shock confirming a clean hit, followed by a muffled thud.

"F-furret? Get up!" Elm was stunned; a direct hit on the first attempt was something few Trainers without a few Gyms under their belt could manage...and certainly not so calmly.

"F-furr..." the Pokémon groaned, shaking his head, before his eyes widened: when did _she_ get so close? The dragoness towered over him as he heard a frantic call for a Hyper Beam, his mouth glowing as he prepared the strike for point-blank.

"Sweep him, mind the beam" he called, Diana gracefully using her tail to knock the Furret over as she slipped under him, slipping away and letting the beam fire into the ground, blowing the Furret across the field. "One-eighty thirty, use your tail," he added, the serpent lunging far too fast for the disoriented Normal type to react as her tail slammed into his belly in midair and smacked him to the ground. The dazed Pokémon tried to rise for several long seconds before Elm spoke:

"Alright, Furret, enough. Nicholas...what was that?" He walked onto the field, Diana helping him pick up the defeated Pokémon as the two battling humans came close. "I'm not sure whether to be amazed or afraid...you two have been training for some time...those were-"

"Angles; more efficient to give a pair of angles to guide her than to say otherwise. And most Trainers can't think fast enough in a fight to understand such orders, never mind defeat them," he noted. "No offense. I've had...a long time to hone our battling."

"As your father has mentioned, you certainly train more than most. A little...unorthodox, I guess, for somebody clearly so close to their Pokémon. I've seen a few try to battle like that, with logic and order and whatnot, but most of them lacked the bond, whatever its effect may be," he noted, grabbing a notepad from his lab coat and scribbling a few lines in black ink.

The teen chuckled, kneeling and letting his serpent race up his arm to curl around his chest, sinking her head into the crook of his neck. "Yeah, I do that occasionally, but it was really showing off. We have it as an, an 'ace in the hole' I guess for when we do meet somebody better." He stood up, about to continue before a loud crash resonated from inside the building, making his head snap toward it fast enough to earn a squeak of protest from the Dragonair on his neck. "Elm...? Another game?"

"N-no! Hurry!"

(Yeah, I like cliffhangers. If this counts. More like this thing was dragging on kinda, and well, yeah...won't waste time. Basically, feels really good to be back. For those who couldn't figure it out, he's basically using two-thirds of a polar coordinate system. He's got two angles, which define a line, and lets his Pokémon define the radius, or the target distance. Being an engineer means I may suck at writing compared to, say, calculus, but things like this are a blast to write anyway.)


	9. Chapter 8: Gale of Darkness

(...Not even gonna try to make excuses. Not gonna say I'll be more consistent about doing this. Just...if anyone is still reading, still waiting, you have my apologies, and my gratitude.)

Chapter 8: Gale of Darkness

Another crash, much louder as a crack spread along a corner of the lab, slowly splitting toward the foundation, followed by a blood-curdling screech that stopped both men cold. Each glanced at the other, the Professor terrified, the Trainer horrified. One knowing nothing, the other knowing exactly what that sound was, and charging into the smoke...

...Except, as Nicholas soon found, it was not smoke at all, but something bizarre: black snow and sleet, reflecting a dim purple light resembling a painful bruise. Somehow, a tiny blizzard of onyx-colored winter had taken over the lab, the rising winds starting to pluck papers and books from the shelves. It didn't melt against his face or his palms, merely evaporating and leaving behind a frigid feeling that he could only compare to the cold pallor of the dead and dying. Even the air itself felt...wrong, foreboding, unnatural and corrupt.

A few Pokémon scampered by his feet, some shepherded by their parents and older siblings, as Diana whimpered and pinned her head down, drawing his gaze. She _never_ cowered like that. Not since she was a Dratini and he was a kid.

"Diana...what is..oh...my...is that...?" he stammered, following her eyes through the darkening lab to the one spot of light left: pure alabaster fur. And in the midst of it, he caught a glimpse of piercing red eyes, light falling from them reflecting faintly off the unnatural ice that even now chilled his bones. "Lethe!"

"G-get...get awa-arrghh!" she screamed, doubling over as he spotted another anomaly, a faint, blood-crimson light pulsing from her body, the light seeming to solidify as her yells grew worse. Casting his arm down and pushing Diana off, he pushed toward the heart of her personal storm, the air only growing colder as she locked eyes with him. "D-don't...please, you can't...you can't help me!" she snarled, her concern flipping into fury as another gust forced his arms up defensively, his fingers already numb. She blinked as she saw him wince but not retreat, the storm seeming to hesitate alongside her as a hand touched her cheek. Though the cold stung, there was life in it, and she reflexively nuzzled it, clinging to the feeling.

"You...I don't know what...you're doing, Lethe. But I can tell it's not you, and not your fault...I'm here," he said gently in her ear as he wrapped his arm around her neck protectively, gently pushing her until she was lying down. Soothing strokes down her back followed as the storm slowly faded, her pained cries and ferocious snarling giving way to exhausted whimpers.

...

"Nicholas? Are you alright?" the Professor asked, kneeling next to him and the exhausted Absol, trying not to marvel: all of the ice and cold had vanished. Except...not quite, as his palm recoiled the instant it got near her body, feeling the storm still barely contained. "Do you care to explain what...what THAT was?!" he added, irritated. "You could've gotten everyone in here-"

His words were cut off by Nicholas's hand raised, palm to him as he stroked her fur again. "No, Professor, I do not know how this happened. And I would deeply appreciate it if you didn't make her feel any worse. So would she," he growled, putting his hand back to her face and holding it. "...She's cold, by the way. Too cold. Any blankets?" he inquired more softly, nodding gratefully a moment later after Elm managed to find one he'd been using for some of the younger Pokémon earlier among the scattered belongings blown across the room.

"...Fair enough, Nicholas. Fair enough...sorry. From what I could hear, she couldn't control it, and you were surprised, so..I guess it makes sense. Any ideas on why this happened?"

The Trainer sighed, shaking his head, not so much a negative as pain. "One or two, none of them good. We had a major run-in with some rather well-equipped thugs. Good enough to hire Hunter J's team, legendary and evil enough as she is, and they were bearing the mark of Cipher from the Orre incidents years ago. My guess they were making efforts to build next-generation Shadow Pokémon, just as they did during their first two efforts. If Cipher survived and is resurgent enough to attack in broad daylight...I fear Lethe could be-" He was cut off by a growl from the Absol under his palm, to his shock a tear on her cheek.

"You're right, Nicholas. Perfectly right. They...did you recall they tried to make Shadow Pokémon unpurifiable? That Lugia that made headlines...was a first attempt. It failed- that kid, bless his heart, did the job. Most of the grunts I was around still hate him to this day for that, and some of their commanders actually fought him to boot. But Cipher learned. Most of their test subjects either failed, or didn't survive. Or were too unstable to use. I was deemed...their first 'success', if you can call grinding a Pokémon down to nothing a success, in years."

"Wait...Shadow techniques I've read about were always known for stripping independent will, emotion, and intellect from the victim...and besides, from what I recall, none of their unstable tendencies were as violent or unrestrained as your episode just now. Any clue why-"

"Yes," she snapped, before flinching at her own anger and cowering meekly. "S-sorry...in any case, they realized they'd never have the numbers for dumb soldiers. They intended to meld technology with Pokémon. Use machines to restrain our will, rather than rely on our own hearts being locked. That way, we'd never be free. And yet, machines would let them keep parts of our minds free, just enough to be smart, deadly, efficient. Cold-blooded war machines, to facilitate their plans, with all of the power, skill, and instinct without the baggage. "

Here she paused to breathe and to steady her own voice, closing her eyes softly with an air of suffering. "When you met me, I'd been on the run for weeks. I left the night before they intended to try their first tools of control on me. It's why they were hunting me, of all Pokémon: I'm...an asset. A weapon, a tool, ...XD-002 was my name..." she carried on, grinding her teeth as her body began to chill again. Both of them exchanged a look at her confession, flinching visibly at her given name, which only seemed to further embitter her as she tried to crawl away before her Trainer leaned down and held her, his face an inch from hers.

"Lethe, look at me. Calm down. Did you willingly help them? No. Did you fight back? Yes. You defied who they wanted you to be. You chose to be more. And I chose to see you as more. Don't beat yourself up," he spoke firmly but quietly, continuing to stroke her ice-cold fur without regard for the frost as it melted against his steady hands.

"I...wish I had your optimism. I'm glad you're trying to help, but...Elm...you're right. I could've really hurt, or...well, you know... everyone here. Because I lost my temper over a Cyndaquil asking too many questions," she offered in a severe tone, her voice cracking.

"...Lethe. The fact such a thing worries you is living proof that they failed. It doesn't matter. You ran. And you found the best person you could to help. He-"

"Professor, as proud as it makes me to hear your praises…spare her. Please. Lethe…you need to rest. Just hang here, 'kay? If you need a doctor, I'm sure-"

"I'm fine. This isn't the first time I've lost it…it's just, usually, I'm alone," she whispered reassuringly, going slack against Nicholas and smiling a bit as she let herself succumb to her exhausted, emotionally burnt out state.

He held her in his arms for another brief moment before slipping the blanket over her shoulders, as another creature came up to her: a Cyndaquil, looking apologetic as the Fire-type curled up to her and shared his own warmth, earning a smile from both humans. "Wonderful, isn't it, Nicholas? Innocence and forgiveness….and it's proof that she's still herself, enough other Pokémon instinctively like her. She's not evil, nor is she beyond saving," the professor murmured, cupping the smaller Pokémon's face with a hand.

"No Pokémon is, Professor…but I get the sentiment," the Trainer added as he stood up. "Sorry for the mess. But…with your permission…I'll take her with me. I don't think she trusts anyone else as much as me, and, with respect, if those men come after her, you won't be able to protect her, never mind the rest of your charges," he explained quietly.

"Judging by her story…you're right. And I think you're good for her. Whatever you two have been through…that bond I mentioned earlier is already there. Nothing I could do would change that. Just…take care of her. I don't have the means to heal her condition. Nobody does, if they in fact perfected the art of Shadow Pokémon. Even the most advanced of technology struggled with a failure on their part, as I'm sure you've read about. I…I don't have any information now, sadly. "

But I can offer a few things for your trip, and a promise that I'll bring the topic up with my colleagues every chance I get…we'll be discreet. This isn't the first time we've had to help Trainers resist such thugs," he offered, the steel in his voice something Nicholas did not expect from the notoriously clumsy and absent-minded professor. He led the child downstairs back toward the main foyer, which had thankfully escaped most of Lethe's onslaught, as a machine opened up, a trio of Poké Balls floated up, a simple gadget in the center.

"Professor, I…I've already got two Pokémon. Save them for the new-"

"Yes, yes, I know who they're for!" he admonished with a laugh. "I'm not offering my Pokémon to you as mere starters, I'm offering them to you because I think they'd do better with you than with me or anyone else I could send them with. I already have a Trainer lined up for the Totodile...but the others, there won't be any more Trainers for months. I'd appreciate if you took these two. You've met the Cyndaquil, so I'm sure you'll be fine with him, but the girl, well…"

"Show me, Professor."


End file.
